Emirates set to upgrade services to Glasgow

Emirates Airline on Monday announced that it will upgrade its services to Glasgow, Scotland from the beginning of next year.

The Dubai-based airline said that its second daily Glasgow flight will be served by the 360-seat Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on the Glasgow-Dubai route from January 1 2013.

The addition of the second daily Boeing 777-300ER, replacing the Airbus A340-300, will result in a weekly increase in passenger capacity of over 650 seats, as well as an extra 70 tonnes of cargo capacity in both directions each week, the carrier said in a statement.

This announcement comes on the back of Emirates being unveiled as an Official Partner of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and the Official Airline of the Queen’s Baton Relay.

Emirates also recently announced a deal for naming rights to the Emirates Arena, Glasgow’s latest world-class sporting facility.

“As a result of the success of the second daily flight to Glasgow we have upgraded the capacity. It is not only great news for all our customers in Glasgow, but also for the Scottish economy,” said Richard Jewsbury, Emirates’ senior vice presidentCommercial Operations Europe and Russian Federation.

“This aircraft upgrade highlights Emirates’ continued investment and support for the area since we launched the route in 2004.

“No-one can be in any doubt that growth remains a key objective for Emirates in Scotland. We can now seamlessly connect even more Scottish passengers to our extensive route network, without them having to travel via London or other European airports.”

In addition to carrying more passengers, the operation of the new aircraft will also have a positive impact on Scotland’s import and export industry.

The Boeing 777-300ER has a cargo capacity of 23 tonnes, which means businesses will benefit from an additional 70 tonnes of weekly capacity on the route.

Since 2004 Emirates’ Glasgow flight has carried almost two million passengers and over 46,000 tonnes of cargo to and from the Middle East and beyond.

“Emirates’ twice daily service to Dubai is of huge economic importance to Glasgow and Scotland as a whole, and it is no surprise that the second service has proved extremely popular since its launch earlier this year,” said Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport.

“The decision to upgrade the aircraft so soon after the launch is further evidence of this success and it will, once again, increase Emirates’ capacity to and from Glasgow.”